The Blues industry is in mourning after legendary blues guitarist Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy passed away at age 88.
While his passing was announced by his nephew Floyd Murphy Jr via Facebook, Murphy had been part of the blues scene since the late 1940s, starting in Chicago and working alongside other artists Ike Turner, Etta James and James Cotton.
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But he achieved an even higher iconic status after teaming up with Saturday Night Live alumni Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, by being apart of The Blues Brothers Band from 1978, and featuring in both The Blues Brothers and Blues Brothers 2000 films as the soul-struggling husband of Aretha Franklin.
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In honour of Murphy, take a step back in time to one of The Blues Brothers’ earliest career performances – performing at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, California in 1978. Winterland was built in 1928 and was the host of many performances, such as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and B.B. King. The final performance for Winterland was the New Years Eve / Day of 1978 – 1979, where The Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage and The Blues Brothers closed out the ballroom. The ballroom eventually was knocked down in 1985.
Watch the video and see Murphy take front stage with Jake and Elwood.
